My Weight Matters Week four: Food labels
essexwellbeingservice.co.uk
Before you start week four
Review your goals:
Did you achieve your goals?
Remember to treat yourself to a non-food reward each time you achieve your goal.
If you did not manage to achieve your goals, were they realistic for you?
Have you increased your levels of activity?
essexwellbeingservice.co.uk/myweightmatters
Review your diary
What about the balance of foods? Does it match the eatwell guide? Did you choose healthier versions within each food group?
What quantities are you eating? Does it match the recommended number of portions? Don’t be tempted to consume less.
Are you drinking enough fluids?
Use the food diary on the back page to record what you eat and drink. It’s known to be helpful when on a weight loss programme.
Food labels It is worth taking the time to check food labels. This could radically change the way you shop. Food labels tell you about the ingredients as well as the nutritional values of the product (how much protein, fat, fibre, carbohydrate and salt).
Making sense of a food label We recommended that you undertake 2 simple checks: the amount of fat and sugar per 100g and the ingredients list.
Check 1 - Look at the amounts per 100g Firstly Find the nutrition information label. This may be on the side or reverse of the packaging.
Thirdly Check per 100g. • Total Fat • Saturated Fat • Sugar Compare the food to the traffc light guidance in the table below. Check the salt content. Although not affecting weight it can lead to high blood pressure which can increase your risk of heart disease. Sometimes salt is listed as sodium. 1g of sodium is the same as 2.5g of salt (so always multiply sodium by 2.5 to work out the amount of salt).
Secondly Look at the column for 100g (or 100ml) of the product. It is NOT the amount per serving! By focusing on the amount per 100g you can compare products like for like and check if they are red, amber or green.
Fat
Saturates
Sugars
Salt
LOW Healthier choice
3g or less
1.5g or less
5g or less
0.3g or less
MEDIUM OK most of the time
3.1g to 17.5g
1.6g to 5g
5.1g to 22.5g
0.31g-1.5g
HIGH Just occasionally
More than 17.5g
More than 5g
More than 22.5g
More than 1.5g
All measures per 100g/ml.
essexwellbeingservice.co.uk/myweightmatters
Check 2 - Look at the ingredients list
Don’t be caught out
Ingredients are listed in descending order. The higher up the list, the more of it there is in the product.
Manufactures may use packaging and terms to tempt you to buy a product by implying it might be a healthier version.
Look for fat and sugar. If they are in the top 3 of the ingredients list we recommended that you look to see if there is a healthier option.
Take care! Sometimes the colours on labels let us know whether levels are high, medium or low, and other times they are just to look more colourful – in the example below, although fat is in a green row, it actually contains a medium level of fat.
Manufacturers may use terms for fat and sugars which you may not immediately recognise. Sugars Words ending in ‘ose’ usually indicate sugars e.g. sucrose, glucose and fructose. Honey and syrup are also types of sugars. Although terms like raw sugar, corn syrup or molasses may sound as if they are better for you – they are still simply sugar for the purposes of weight loss. Fats As well as the obvious fats (such as butter or vegetable oil) other terms are also used which most people would not automatically recognise as fat. Some examples are: whole milk solids, egg and egg yolk solids, coconut cream, shortening. Again, they all count as fats for the purposes of weight loss.
Take care! Terms such as “No added sugar” means that no sugar (usually sucrose) has been added as an additional ingredient. However, there might be other types of sugar added which are just as high in calories and may not be obvious from the ingredients list (for example, syrup). Confused? For clarity always look for the content per 100g.
Find out more about food labels and what the terms food manufactures use really mean: essexwellbeingservice.co.uk/ myweightmatters
Nutrition - Oven cooked according to instructions
Look at the column that says what’s in it per 100g
Look at the sugar, fat and salt content
Typical values
100g contains
Half of a pizza (237g) contains
%GDA*
560kcal
28%
GDA* for a typical adult 235kcal 2000kcal
Energy
990kj 2345kj
Protein Carbohydrate
11.9g 28.7g
28.2g
of which sugars
3.3g
7.7g
9%
90g
Fat
8.1g
19.1g
27%
70g
of which saturates
4.3g
10.2g
51%
20g
mono-unsaturates polyunsaturates Fibre Sodium
2.9g 0.4g 2.0g 0.5g
6.9g 0.4g 2.0g 0.5g
Salt equivalent
1.2g
2.8g
67.9g
4.8g 0.9g 4.8g 1.1g 47%
6g
Meal planning You can use the printable meal planner to plan your week’s meals. This can help you with your shopping list/s. Thinking in advance about your meals for the week is the key to giving you the best chance of sticking to your healthy eating plan.
Have a look at these 20 tips to eat well for less: essexwellbeingservice.co.uk/ myweightmatters
Shopping Always use a shopping list as this will help you keep to plan. Eating more healthily doesn’t have to be more expensive.
Store cupboard & fridge essentials
• Long life pure juices
Foods for the cupboard
• Nuts (raw, unsalted)
Remember to buy wholegrain varieties as much as possible.
• Seeds
• Breakfast cereals (without added sugar), muesli, porridge oats
• Popcorn kernels (plain rather than sweet or favoured versions)
• Pasta
• Olive or rapeseed oil
• Rice
• Dried fruit
Foods for the fridge or freezer
• Bulgar wheat, quinoa, couscous and barley • Canned vegetables (sweetcorn, asparagus, tomatoes, peas, etc.) • Canned fruit in fruit juice • Beans (baked, kidney, cannellini)
• Skimmed or semi-skimmed milk • Low fat natural or fruit yoghurt (check the sugar content) • Eggs
• Lentils
• Cheese (low fat or reduced fat is best for example mozzarella or cottage cheese)
• Chickpeas
• Bread
• Cans of tuna or other fish in water, brine or tomato sauce (not canned in oil)
• Lean meat, poultry and fish (beef, chicken, turkey, pork, fresh or frozen fish)
• Crispbreads or rice cakes
• Low fat hummous
• Nut butter (for example, almond or peanut butter)
• Tofu
• Marmite • No added sugar jam (pure fruit spreads)
• Quorn • Frozen vegetables or fruit
Use the AmaraHealth™ app to stay motivated and track your weight loss
Week four summary This week you have focused on: 1. How to make sense of food labels using the traffc light tool 2. Planning your meals and shopping to help you keep to plan
Week four action check-list Now set yourself 1 or 2 goals for this week. Please record these in your goal log.
Monitor what you eat and drink using a food diary. Monitor your level of physical activity Check the labels of foods you buy regularly Use the meal planner and shopping lists to help you plan this week’s food
essexwellbeingservice.co.uk/myweightmatters
Prefer to record your weight online? Track your weight, set goals, and stay motivated with the AmaraHealth™ app
Food diary Day:
Time
Date:
Food/drink
Potatoes, bread, rice, pasta and other starchy carbs
7 (Women) 8 (Men)
Fruit and vegetables
Beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other proteins
Dairy and alternatives
Oil and spreads
Other foods and drinks high in fat, salt or sugars
At least 5
2
3
2
1 max
TOTAL number of portions: Recommended number of portions:
Physical activity log: Step count:
Initiative funded by
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